Mining boom ticks over

RESOURCES Minister Martin Ferguson couldn't help dropping his bib in his soup a couple of weeks ago. He announced the minerals boom was over.

Former union officials turned politicians do not economists make, obviously.

What inspired Ferguson was BHP's announcement that it was putting South Australia's Olympic Dam project on hold. Then another political/economic illiterate weighed in and said that the project was put on the back- burner because of the great big mining and carbon taxes. Guess who?

You wonder whether these guys eat or smoke their sprouts in the parliamentary dining room.

Chief of the Reserve Bank Glenn Stevens last week thought it time to call this sort of politicking what it is - bulldust.

In fact Stevens told the House of Representatives' economic committee that the economy is in as good a shape now as at any time in his 40-year career.

"We have an employment rate a bit over 5%, core inflation of 2%, our government is AAA-rated, our banks are strong and we've been given by the global economy a huge gift by the terms of trade rise.